In peer to peer communications system a pair of wireless terminals having a connection generally desires to exchange traffic signals. An approach of strictly defining a first set of air link resources reserved for traffic flow in a first direction and a second set of air link resources reversed for traffic flow in a second direction, said first and second sets being non-overlapping, leads to wasted resources when flow levels do not match the predefined sets. An approach of allowing either wireless terminal of the pair to transmit a traffic request as needed on a shared request resource can lead to collisions where neither request is recovered and/or approved resulting in the traffic resource, e.g., traffic segment, being requested being wasted. Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and apparatus related to control signaling in a peer to peer wireless communications system.
It would be beneficial if methods and apparatus were developed which facilitated efficient control signaling related to peer to peer traffic signaling. In a peer to peer communications in which a pair of connected wireless terminals utilizes the same frequency band for both transmission and reception, it is desirable to avoid transmission collisions which tend to waste air link resources. Methods and apparatus that facilitate coordination between transmission and receptions of connected peers would be beneficial. Methods and apparatus which provide flexibility, allowing for different balances of directional traffic flows between a connected pair of wireless terminals at different times and/or are responsive to different priority considerations, would also be beneficial.
It would also be beneficial if at least some methods and apparatus provided for communicating additional information corresponding to a request to transmit peer to peer traffic signals. It would be advantageous if the additional information could be communicated using a resource that was designated to be utilized for another purpose when such a request was not communicated.